My little rainbow 🌈, Gage, was born on 2/1/17 at 1:24am at exactly 39 weeks. He weighed 6lbs 9oz and was 20 3/4" long. We have a long skinny little boy. 

I went in to the hospital on 1/30/17 at 6pm to start my induction due to having high blood pressure. They needed to start by ripening my cervix since I wasn't dilated at all. I was given my first dose of cervidil at about 6:45pm that night, which soon started some contractions. They weren't painful, but I knew they were there. 

I got the second dose at about 11pm and the contractions definitely got stronger. At 2:23am on 1/31/17, I stood up to go to the bathroom and my water broke. It was the weirdest thing I've ever felt. My husband was asleep on the couch and it was dark in the room so all I could do is yell for him to wake up and he's a really heavy sleeper. At the time I wasn't sure if it was my water or if I had to go to the bathroom that bad that I peed myself. 

After that, the contractions really started to pick up so I didn't need to get the last dose of cervidil or the pitocin. I went on for 17 hours before I decided I wanted an epidural. I wanted to have my baby without pain meds, but at this point I was exhausted. I got the epidural and my husband and I both were able to get some rest. 

When it came time for pushing, I'm really glad I had the epidural. We found out that the opening of my pelvic bone is shaped different than most women and it is also smaller than normal so even though my baby was small, he got stuck. His heart rate kept dropping so I was put on oxygen, which helped, but he was still getting stressed. My doctor mentioned the use of the vacuum and quickly explained the risks and also mentioned that it's possible I could need an emergency C-section. I decided that I wanted to try just a little longer without any interventions and was finally able to get him to move a little. They called the NICU team in so they could take him right away, but I was able to do it with about 2 hours of pushing. In total, the labor lasted 30 1/2 hours, but it was worth it. I didn't get to enjoy having my baby placed on me right away, but my husband was still able to cut the cord. He wasn't breathing at first and his heart rate was really high, but they were able to stabilize him quickly and he didn't have to stay in the NICU. 

I'm just so happy to have my little guy home.